The new (slightly delayed), Jay-Z and Kanye West album, Watch the Throne, may be getting a digital release this coming Monday, July 4th.

First single, H.A.M, has been doin the rounds online for 2 or 3 months now and their collaborative album has been hot hip-hop gossip for around a year.

The idea of releasing the album digitally at first, is clearly an attempt to lessen leaks and I guess it also instills the project with a greater air of anticipation and mystery.

I, for one, am looking forward to it. I usually avoid the majority of mainstream hip-hop acts but Kanye West turned me round with his last album (the mighty, Monster being my favourite hip-hop tune of 2010) and Jay-Z still seems untouchable at the moment.

Ever wanted to know the key elements to living like Jeff Bridge’s ‘Dude’ from The Big Lebowski?

Well here’s an attempt. Coming this August is, ‘The Abide Guide – Living Like Lebowski’. The book is an irreverent guide to living life like the Dude and learning his ways. The book features general lifestyle tips, advice on remaining laid back and lots of (hopefully) hilarious facts about the movie.

As we all know, The Big Lebowski was a bit of a commercial flop upon its release in 1998, but has gone on to achieve cult cult status with fan festivals, midnight film screenings, and suppossedly its own religion. If like me, you find the latter a bit hard to believe, do remember there are a lot of twats out there. And two of them may (or may not) have written this book.

The aim is a slick blend of funny and profound – all genius idiocy and relaxed buffoonery. Here’s hoping it’s a tenth as funny as the film itself.

To pre-order a copy of, ‘The Abide Guide – Living Like Lebowski’click here.

The evolution of hip-hop may be about to take it’s next step with the release of Shabazz Palaces’ new album, Black Up.

Shabazz Palaces appeared on the alt-hip-hop scene two years ago, all bizarre song titles and woozy, hypnotic beats and rhymes. Two EPs came out and the sound was some of the most exploratory and far-out hip-hop of 2009/10 – all psychedelic and vaguely sinister raps and soupy, disorienting rhythms. It had a hard to pinpoint sound – bits of cLOUDEAD here, snatches of New Kingdom and the Ninja Tunes stable there.

Palaceer Lazaro, the 42 year old man at the center of Shabazz Palaces, is otherwise known as Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, one third of the bohomenian-rap trio Digable Planets and cousin of one of last year’s great alt-hip-hop finds, Gonjasufi.

If the usual chart-friendly, bling-heavy brand of hip-hop is grinding your gears, Shabazz Palaces are crafting something far more futuristic and progressive. Black Up, is due either this week or next (tomorrow?) and it’s released by Sub Pop Records, which says a lot about the kind of angle Shabazz Palaces are coming from. Go get.

Some shit is beyond me. Most musical intruments, quantum physics and bakery for example. Timeline videos featuring nothing but iPhone instruments, are another. When I say, beyond me, I mean, how do people master such things?

Here’s an example of one of the above – a Timeline video/tune that blows my mind everytime I see it – it’s catchy stuff too:-

Turn away Spidey fans, ’cause the answer is ‘yes’. It’s 49 years since Peter Parker appeared as Spider-Man – but he’s not going to see his 50th birthday and he’s going to slain by one of his classic foes too.

In fact, here he is – dying in the arms of Mary Jane!!!

Spider-Man, for those don’t already know, was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko, and his first appearance was in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August 1962. Since then he’s gone on to become one of the top two or three comic book creations of all time.

The good news is that Spider-Man is set to live on with another superhero hero set to don the famous blue and red spidey suit sometime in the very near future, according to sources at Marvel.

The story that will see the demise of Peter Parker is issue number 160 of the Ultimate Spider-Man series – which debuted in 2000. But writers have stated that a new, exciting dawn is set to emerge from this saddest of comic book stories.